Elevator safety-gate.



No. 654,396. Patenjted July 24, I900.

S. T. HITZ.

ELEVATOR SAFETY GATE.

(Application filed May 10, 1900.

(No Model.) 1

WITNESSES: I INVENTOR.

4 ATTORNEY.

llNTTnn STATES PATENT Orricn.

STEPHEN T. HITZ, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

ELEVATOR SAFETY-GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 654,396, dated July 24, 1900.

Q Application filed May 10,1900 flerial No. 16,181. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: u

Be it known that I, STEPHEN T. HI'lZ, of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Elevator Safety-Gate; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like figures refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is to provide an elevator-gate that will permit a person to escape from injury by a descending elevatorcar when he is looking or bending over the gate without knowledge of the descending elevator-car and the latter has come into contact with him and to so remove the gate when necessary that it will be well out of the way, so as not to interfere with working in or about the elevator.

The chief feature of this invention consists in providing a gate upwardly collapsible with the bars or slats flexibly connected and the upper ones held up by a weight or other yielding means. The advantage of this construction is that it one is bending over the gate in ignorance of the descending elevator-car and the latter has come into contact with him he can readily press down the slats of the gate and escape.

Another feature of the invention consists in so constructing the gate that it can be elevated and'collapsed into small space against the under side of the ceiling or floor above, and thus be quite out of the way of those working in and about the elevator.

The full nature of my invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the description following of one form of device embodying my said invention, and the scope of said invention will be understood from the claims following said description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of a building, showing two stories and an elevator-shaft with the elevator-car therein and the upper elevator-gate on the second floor closed and the gate on the lower floor opened. Fig. 2 is a detail of the means for closing the gate. Fig. 3 is a detail of the parts, showing the gate in vertical section opened. Fig. 4 is a detail of the end of the lower part of the gate.

Referring now to the details of construction of what is here shown to illustrate the general nature of my invention, 1 is the lower floor of the building, 2 is the second floor, and 3 is the third floor thereof.

4 represents vertical frame-pieces that are placed at each of the corners of the elevatorshaft on each side of the gate.

The elevator-car consists of a top beam 5, to which suitable elevating-cables 6 are connected, the side bars 7, and an elevator-floor. (Shown only in dotted lines in Fig. 1.)

On the opposing faces of the frame-pieces 4 guide-bars 8 are secured that are U-shaped in cross-section and between the flanges of which the bars of the gate vertically reciprocate. The form of this guide-bar is shown in Fig. 3.

The gate consists of a heavy bottom bar 9 and a pair of lighter bars 10 above. The lower bar 9 has on each of its ends a vertical bar 11, held in place by the angle-iron 12 and carrying two antifriction-rollers 13, that Work in the guide 8. The bars of the gate are con nected by ropes or similar cables 14, which when taut hold the bars at the desired distance apart. These ropes or cables 14 pass over pulleys 15 and 16 to one side and hang down with the weights 17 on the lower ends thereof. These weights 17 must not be heavy enough to lift the entire gate, but only heavy enough to elevate the bars 10 or the bars above the bottom one. They do not elevate the lower bar 9, and for that reason the bar 9 is made heavy.

A gate-closing cable 20 is connected with the lower bar 9 of the gate and passes over the pulleys {21, 22, 23, 24, and and to the spreader 28 in the actuating means. (Shown in Fig. 2.) This gate-elevating means is old and familiar to all acquainted with the freightelevators now in use. It consists, substantially, of a pair of pulleys 24 and 25, mounted on the free ends of the rods 26, that are piv oted to the side of the elevator-shaft. Here they are pivoted to the floor 2, and the pulley 23 is mounted in the wall 27 of the shaft. A spreader 28 is connected with the end of the elevator-car, pointed at its two ends and widened midway between them and so located as to operate between the two pulleys 24 and 25. As the elevator-car ascends or descends this spreader 28 pushes the pulleys 24 and 25 apart and thus pulls on the cable 20, and thus elevates the gate from the position shown in the upper part of Fig. 1 to the position shown in the lower part of Fig. 1.

When the gate is elevated, it is in the position shown in Fig. 3, and the bars of the gate are formed, preferably, in cross-section, as there shown; but their particular form is immaterial to this invention.

From the foregoing description it will appear that if a person is bending over the gate in ignorance of the descending elevatorcar when he is struck by the elevator-oar he can readily push down the upper bars of the gate and escape, as nothing but the weights 17 hold them up. It is also apparent that by reason of the collapsibility of the gate when it is elevated it occupies small space against the underside of the floor above and is out of the way of those working in and about the elevator.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An elevator safety gate apparatus including a gate formed of transverse bars, a flexible connection between said bars, means for holdingthe bars of the gate apart in normal position for closing the elevator shaft, and means actuated by the elevator-car for elevating the bottom bar.

2. An elevator safetygate apparatus including a gate formed of transverse bars, a flexible connection between said bars, a

yielding means for holding said bars apart, and means actuated by the elevator-car for elevating the bottom bar.

3. An elevator safety-gate apparatus in cluding'a gate formed of transverse bars, cables connecting said bars so that when taut the bars will be a suitable distance apart, pulleys over which said cables extend, weights suspended on the outer ends of said cables that are less than the total weight of the gate and greater than the weight of the bars above the bottom bar of the gate, and means actuated by the elevator-car, for ele- 'vating the bottom bar.

4. An elevator safety-gate apparatus including a gate formed of transversebarsg'a flexible connection between said bars, means for holding the bars of the gate apart in normal position for closing the elevator-shaft, a pair of opposing vertical guides for the ends of the bars of the gate, vertical reinforcingbarssecured at each end to the bottom bar of the gate and adapted to operate in said guides, and means actuated by the elevator car for elevating the bottom bar.

In witness whereof I- have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of the witnesses herein named.

STEPHEN T. IIITZ.

Witnesses:

M. O. BUCK, V. H. LOCKWOOD. 

